Exsanguinate (32 page)

I
dialed Khaldon’s phone
.

He picked up on the second ring. “Hey, sweetie. How’s everything going? Sheridan and your dad doing all right?”

“We’re fine. Daddy is sleeping. Sheridan has come out of the fog, and she’s in a bath. We stopped and picked up the dogs, so they’re over here. But listen, I know you’ve got a ton going on right now, but have you seen the news tonight?”

“No. What’s going on?”

“It looks as if Dakota is out feeding again. The National Guard has been called out and they’re evacuating Lakeshore Palms golf course. A flying creature is attacking the golfers. Is there anything we can do to try and catch her tonight?”

“Bollocks, Chey. This is not good news nor terrific timing. We’ve got Ludovic helping all the teams properly prepare the women to be moved. Let me pull him aside for a few to try and communicate with Dakota.”

“Do you think he can get a message to her to stop killing? She needs to be warned she’s in danger. They’ll kill her if she stays out in the open.”

“We’ll do our best, Chey. We simply don’t have the resources. Where would we keep her tonight even if we did manage to catch her? I’m not sure you understand the savageness she is capable of, Cheyenne.”

“Where are Harris and Briggs right now?”

“They just got back after moving a few of the patients. They’re right here with me.”

“Good. Can you put me on speaker?”

“Okay, you’re on speaker. I have the guys here with me.”

I explained the situation again about what Torchy and I just heard on TV.

Harris said, “Chey, if Ludovic can’t contact her, Briggs and I will track her tonight to see where she goes.”

“Yes. That’s exactly what I was hoping. A plan B for her location.”

“You’ve got it, Chey Chey,” Briggs said. “Harris you know how to get over to this golf course?”

My voice hitched up a notch. “Briggs, don’t fly tonight. The news said the National Guard is out looking for a flying creature.”

“Thanks for the heads up. We’ll only track and follow.”

“We’ll call you soon with an update, all right?” Harris said.

“Fair enough. I know you guys will do everything you can. Thank you. Just … be careful dammit. I’m scared this is going to create a lot of attention and the Queen could show up at any time.”

Khaldon agreed. “You’ve got a valid point, but the best thing we can do tonight, is stick to the plan. To keep suspicions down, Stovall is working with a local Wiccan coven to help set up glamours in the area. With all the cars, trucks and vans in and out of here, there was bound to be a tip off from a private citizen, and that would make the news. We’ve got the facility half way evacuated. This has turned into a logistical nightmare. Stovall is trying to find enough places to accommodate the women. We received word the Super Market is going to provide hotel room access for most of the patients until we know what to do with them. Stovall isn’t sure how to proceed at this point and isn’t exactly entertaining the idea of contacting the Queen about all this.”

“Dakota will have to nest down before dawn,” Khaldon said. “She’ll stay put during the day and we can plan out our mission. We’ll meet you back at Torchy’s house in the morning.”

We hung up, and I felt so empty inside. Maybe it was the looming conversation with Sheridan that had me in knots. I prayed for sleep. So many things needed to happen in the next twenty-four hours.

* * *

C
lose after dawn
, brilliant streaks of orange rays against pink clouds, cascaded ribbons across the sky. Khaldon had called earlier letting us know they were on their way. He explained how after removing women from the breeding facility and cleaning the bloody remains from Dakota’s attacks, he and Lord Stovall were whipped. The abstergers were still sanitizing the minds of the humans who were involved, including the National Guard.

Khaldon sat out on the patio with me. He had fresh kolaches with steaming cups of mocha coffee in the to-go tray.

Peering into the bag of goodies I inhaled the deliciousness of the spicy cheeses. “Mmm … my favorite. How did you know I love the jalapeno, cheddar ones?” I asked him.

“Seemed to match your personality. One fine, spicy kolache.” Khaldon winked at me.

Torchy walked out onto the lanai where I sat watching the sunrise. “How did you sleep, Cheyenne?” he asked.

“It was sporadic but other than the couple of times Sheridan cried out from night terrors, it was fair. I slept much better than I expected for not being in my own room and worrying about everyone.”

“Rox, did you by chance bring anything a little milder here for Sheridan?” Torchy asked. “She can’t handle any spice right now. Her tummy is a bit queasy, and I don’t think she cares much for my saltines.”

Smiling at Khaldon, he handed me a coffee and said, “As a matter of fact, I brought vanilla almond milk and some old-fashioned cake donuts. Thought maybe she might like to dip them.” Khaldon arranged the goodies on a serving tray.

Before he could hand it to Sheridan, Torchy grabbed a single bud flower vase from the kitchen table and placed it on her tray.

Sheridan walked out onto the lanai and joined us. “Thanks, guys. This looks delicious, I just hope I can keep it down. I don’t know why I feel so nauseated and hungry – all at the same time.” She ate for a few moments and we sat in silence, just watching her. Stormaggedon pranced out onto the porch with Ash and Soot behind her. Beano trotted along behind them. “Hey, Pookie, come here, sweetie.” Sheridan cuddled the little Pomsky in her lap.

“Wow, looks like we have the whole family. And who are you fellas.” Ash and Soot wagged their tails as they sniffed the breakfast bags for future promises of crumbs.

“You definitely look and sound like you’re feeling a lot better this morning, Sheridan.” I handed her some of the almond milk.

Sheridan looked around the room and stared out the screen enclosure at the morning sun. “I do feel better, but I have a lot of questions. Such as – who are you?” Sheridan pointed at Khaldon.

I nudged her side. “Sheridan … you’ll never believe in a hundred years who this is.”

“And you’re gonna make me try and guess?”

“No, silly. This is Khaldon Seters a.k.a. Roxas Morgwain – in the flesh!” I said.

Sheridan’s eyes widened in surprised. “Well, Mr. Morgwain, it is about damn time I get to meet the man I send a lot of money to for developing my software.”

He grinned ear to ear. “All I can say, Sheridan, is we’re so very happy we got you out of that place.” Khaldon came over and sat by me.

I gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“I see you two didn’t waste any time,” she said.

“Harris and Briggs just turned down the drive. I’ll meet them out front. Do you feel well enough for more company, Miss Sheridan?” Torchy asked.

Sheridan turned to look at me, her eyebrows arched. “Miss Sheridan … I kinda like that. What are those two clowns here for?”

I grabbed her hand. “Sher, we have a lot of things we need to discuss with you today. Things you’ve never heard of before. Things that are real, and with real consequences. We need our team, our family, to get through this.”

The energy in the room shifted from light and fluffy to dense and heavy. Khaldon looked up at Torchy and gave him a nod. Torchy left to greet the fellas. Ash and Soot were hard on his heels to go to the door. I heard a couple of car doors slam outside as Ash howled out the warning.

Sheridan took a small sip of the almond milk and moaned. “Gawd that’s good. Okay bring them on in. Let’s get through this together.” She looked around. “Is Daddy still sleeping?”

“Yeah – I expect he’ll sleep for a while. He hasn’t been consistent on his medication, so I’m taking him into the doctor today for a checkup and make sure his blood levels are all right. I’m gonna go peek in on him.”

It wasn’t but a few more minutes when Torchy returned with Harris and Briggs. Harris ran over to Sheridan and hugged her. “Hey, Sher. How ya doing? It’s good to have you back.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks for helping. I’m still pretty confused about everything.” Sheridan’s eyes widened when Briggs came in through the door. “And you must be Briggs.”

“At your service, boss. Good to finally meet you. Not necessarily under these circumstances.” Briggs bent down to hug Sheridan.

“I’m beginning to think the Christmas party would have been a much better venue,” I joked.

We pulled extra chairs onto the porch and got settled.

“So, Sheridan, I’m not real sure how to begin or even where to start. I was hoping perhaps you could tell us what you remember last. Then we can fill in the blanks and probably add in a couple of chapters.” I gave her an apologetic smile and sat back down.

She looked around the room at all of us. “Okay, this is weird. I know most of you very well, and yet I feel as if I’m sitting in a room full of strangers.”

“Maybe we should put on headsets and talk with our eyes closed,” I teased. “Face time is strange when you aren’t used to it. But seriously now, what is the last thing you remember Halloween night?”

Sheridan breathed in and exhaled a slow count. “I remember being at the park. I was taking a break from scaring people in that Ghillie suit. I was going to the ladies room … and then nothing. Next thing I knew, I woke up in the room where I couldn’t move. I remember seeing Ludovic and Edric thought I was safe, but then everything went black again. What day is it?”

I squeezed her hand. “It’s November 19th. It’s been almost three weeks.”

“
U
nholy hell
, Sher,” I began. “I know you’re confused, but for me to answer why you’ve been in an induced coma for almost three weeks – well – I need explain a lot of things first. Things that aren’t going to make sense, and most likely you’re going to think I’m whacked out on bath salts or something. But I’m not, and these guys aren’t. I just need you to suspend current, rational beliefs and reality as you know it.”

“Criminy, Cheyenne. It feels like you’re gonna tell me the zombie apocalypse has started or something.”

“Well, you’re close. I don’t really know where to start. So I’ll start from the beginning.” I smiled at her and quirked my eyebrows up. “It all starts with our online game, ExsanguiNation. What would you say if I told you that almost every mythological, supernatural, and preternatural being existed?”

Sheridan stroked Stormy in her lap. “You mean in the game or in our reality?”

“Well, technically both.”

She sat in silence and blinked at me.

“Do you remember the morning of Halloween when you called me and I told you how much I didn’t want to go into the haunted house?”

She nodded.

“Well, the haunted house I went into changed me forever.”

“I’m not following you, Chey.” She shook her head and shrugged.

“Okay – yeah – I suck at this. On our game we have mostly vampires and werewolf type avatars, and then there’s a lot of people who’ve created other types of creatures such as dragons, ghoulies, and witches, right?”

She nodded. “What does that have anything to do with today?”

“What if I told you that those kinds of avatars are indeed real creatures, and they have existed alongside humans since – forever. There are vampires, witches, werewolves, and dragons … even zombies.”

Sheridan reached for her milk and took a sip. “So, okay, funny ha ha, what day it is really? You’ve had your fun. I know, let’s play a joke on the boss.”

Harris stood up and held his hand out to her. She took it. “Sheridan, we aren’t joking.” His hand morphed into a large, hairy paw.

She pulled her hand back and gasped. “W-W-What did you give me to make me halucin-n-nate, Chey? That’s n-not funny.”

“No drugs, this is our new reality. Do you remember how Roxas had so many ideas about how to structure the vampire society simulators? Well, he did such an amazing job – because he is a vampire.”

Sheridan looked over at him and swallowed hard.

“Look, I know this is nuts, but I have a lot to tell you. The sooner you start listening to what I’m saying and let go of earlier conventions, the sooner you’ll understand.”

An hour later I’d unveiled the entire story to Sheridan. Each of us had to prove what type of supernatural being we were before she understood the full impact.

“Two vampires, two dragons, and a werewolf.”

“Yes. But seriously, Sheridan, this isn’t all of the news we need to share with you. There’s a lot more we need to cover before tonight,” I said.

“All right, lay it on me.” Sheridan sat up in the bed and stretched out her legs. “I need facts so I can make decisions.”

“I knew once you grasped that an alternate reality co-existed beside us, that you’d be able to handle what I’m going to throw at you. I don’t know how else to say it, but to say it. Halloween night when I was attacked and was changed into a vampire, you and Dakota were both kidnapped and put into an induced coma by other bad vampires. We rescued you last night, but Dakota escaped from the facility before the night before.”

“Bad vampires?” Sheridan’s eyes widened. “You said Dakota was all right.”

“Yes, just like there are bad humans, there are bad vampires.” I scooted closer to her on the couch. “Dakota is all right. She escaped from the vamps, but what you don’t know is why you were there to begin with.” I reached for her hand. “It was a breeding facility. They captured you and Dakota, and they were supposed to kidnap me as well to turn all three of us into dhampir breeders.”

Sheridan took in several deep breaths and rubbed over the top of her belly.

“Dakota escaped, but not before bad things happened to her. I’ve explained that I have been bitten and turned into a vampire. Edric and Ludovic were experimenting on her and turned her into something worse. Ludovic got a sudden case of conscience and attempted to save Dakota’s life, but the blood they were giving her didn’t bode well with his vampire DNA. Something went bad wrong.”

“Wrong? What could be worse than turning into a vampire?” Sheridan exclaimed. “Present company excluded, of course.”

“Dakota was given a couple different types of blood.” Khaldon jumped in to help me. “We’re pretty sure she’s become a blood demon.”

“What the hell is a blood demon?”

“A blood demon is like a vampire with no conscience, more abilities, more thirst, and one hell of a bad attitude. For millenia we have killed these demons as we find them. They lack control or morals and are very difficult to transform.”

“Are you saying you’re going to kill Dakota?” Sheridan shouted as she tried to stand up from the couch. “You can’t do that.” The exertion brought a wince of pain to her face.

“Sweetie,” I continued, “calm down please, we don’t know. We’re going to try and get her tonight. Briggs and Harris followed her most of last night, and we have a pretty good idea where she is. She sleeps during the day, but when the sun sets she’ll come out to hunt again, and we have to capture her somehow.”

Khaldon reached over and gently removed a tear from my cheek.

“We think she may have a chance. She was given the blood to be a demon, but was turned by a vampire to save her life. Once we capture her and see what she is like, then the decision will be made. It’ll be out of our hands.”

Sheridan closed her eyes and lay back onto the cushions for several minutes before asking her next question. “And all of this happened because of our game?”

“You aren’t going to believe this either, but as it turns out, one of the reasons we’ve been so successful is due to the fact that real supernatural beings play our game. Deals are made, merchandise is transferred, world-wide commerce happens daily in ExsanguinNation. Good and bad.”

Sheridan blew out puffed cheeks. “I don’t want to ask this next question, but I have to. So if I was in this breeding facility, then I’m not crazy thinking I feel pregnant. I haven’t felt normal since I woke up. I keep thinking something is moving inside me, and I’ve been praying it’s gas.”

A heavy silence filled the room until I broke it softly. “Sher, you are pregnant. When you were in the coma, those bad people inseminated you.”

“But that was what – three weeks you said?” Sheridan screeched as she sat up. “Why do I look so big?”

I looked at her and took a deep breath. I reached out for her hand. “Khaldon, can you help explain this to her a little better?”

Khaldon stood up and looked around the room at everyone and then squatted down to talk to Sheridan eye-to-eye. “I’m afraid you were impregnated with the semen from a vampire.”

A single tear escaped Sheridan’s eye.

“You are carrying what is known as a dhampir. A dhampir fetus develops much faster than a human. You will deliver within a couple of months, but we’re not sure exactly when.”

“This can’t be real. This can’t be. What am I going to do? Is this thing going to kill me like in
Alien
?” Sheridan’s voice increased in decibel and pitch with each question.

I squeezed her hand. I hated seeing her face filled with fear. “I’m here, Sher. We’ll get through this together. I promise.”

Sheridan took her hand away from mine and rubbed at her belly.

Briggs asked in a quiet voice, “Is there still time to … ya know …
not
keep it. Will it cause her more harm than good?”

“No!” Sheridan exploded at Briggs. “I’m not going to do that. Regardless of how this happened, this is still my baby. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let anybody hurt him … her.” She looked down at her belly as she sobbed. “Why did this happen to me?”

Briggs stood up and walked toward Sheridan. “I didn’t mean any disrespect. I’m sorry.”

Sheridan grabbed his hand and looked up at his face. “I understand. I’m not upset at you.” The anguish in her eyes told me that with all my own adversities, mine simply did not compare to what my sister was going through right this minute.

She stood up and let go of Brigg’s hand. “Do we know who the father is?”

Oh crap, I hadn’t even thought of that!

I looked around the room at the guys. Harris, Khaldon, Torchy, and I stood up.

“I don’t know, sweetie. Maybe there’s record of it on the logs Ludovic keeps on all the women.”

Khaldon looked down at his feet and shuffled his weight from one foot to another. “Umm … I know this isn’t going to make any sense right now because I haven’t wrapped my own head around the logistics, but the sperm donor box on the her medical chart, well … it has my name in it.”

I blinked and tried to understand what I thought I just heard.

“No fuckin’ way!” Harris exclaimed.

“This is not good.” Briggs said.

“Fuck me, I dinnae expect that, mate,” Torchy said.

I was frozen and couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes.

Khaldon stepped closer to my sister. “It’s mine, Sheridan. I don’t know how, because I’m not a part of this insanity. But my name is on the paternity.”

Something inside me died.